Monday, July 10, 2017

The uniqueness of the
Stearns County League is that it dates to 1950 in what is basically its
present form. Regal was an early member, as was Freeport. Meire Grove
and Greenwald were Green-Grove until separate teams were formed in 1959.

For nearly
six decades, it has been those two, plus Farming, Lake Henry, St.
Martin, New Munich, Richmond and Roscoe. Of course, 1983 saw the
admission of Elrosa and Spring Hill.

“Those
teams had to come up with the expansion fee,” Schleper said. “They each
had to buy a case of beer for the league’s board of directors.”

The 10-team Stearns County
League forms a family, both in spirit and in reality. Herman Lensing is
a reporter from Star Publications, the publisher of weekly newspapers
such as the Melrose Beacon, Sauk Centre Herald and Albany Enterprise.

Herman is
among the 222 residents of Greenwald. He’s famous for having his camera
always at the ready. He has been chronicling the exploits of this league
and other area townball teams (29 total in Stearns County) for decades....

There are generations of
names associated with every team in the league. That’s a tribute to the
large Catholic families of farmers. The farms are fewer and the families
are smaller in current times. Still ...

“To be a true Stearns County town, you need a Catholic church, two bars and a ballfield,” Schleper said....

What astounds is standing
at a ballpark in Farming, Spring Hill or Elrosa, looking across the
prairie, and trying to figure out how Stearns County League teams renew
themselves. Richmond is near Cold Spring and close to 1,500 in
population, but the rest of these little places are a Catholic church,
two bars (or one) and a ballfield.

The basic radius rule for player eligibility is 6 miles. The old saying was, “You should play where you go to church.”

The four
15-mile exceptions to the radius rule are still low by state amateur
standards. Most important, the SCL runs Little Dipper (Little League
age) and Big Dipper (Base Ruth and Legion age) programs as a feeder
system. Parents pay no fee, and the kids swing with wood bats to get
ready for the town team.

Many of
the bills are paid through pulltab sales at local bars, where the
ballclub is the charity. There are also offseason fundraisers.